Most nights, this is the face we are graced with at the dinner table. It's not that she doesn't like to eat or even that she doesn't like the food. She just eats so damn slowly that we have to constantly say "keep eating Irelyn" or she'll literally take about one bite every 5 minutes. Makes for a long time at the dinner table. I am usually cleaning up the dinner dishes/pans/etc... while she is still sitting there eating. We don't force her to eat everything on her plate, we just ask that she eat. Something. Anything.

For dinner, R requested that I make Mongolian Beef. Sounded good and easy enough, which is what I needed since I have had zero motivation in the cooking department recently. It turned out really well and everyone enjoyed it, even Irelyn, except it took her 30 minutes to eat the little bit that was on her plate.

Here's the recipe:

A little over 1 lb. cube steaks (I used 4) or you can use flank steak - cut into thin strips against the grain

1/4 C  cornstarch

1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

1 Tbs. minced fresh garlic (about 2-3 cloves)

1/2 C soy sauce

1/2 C water

1/2 C brown sugar (I would cut this down to maybe a 1/3 C next time)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

canola oil

rice (we use jasmine rice)

cut up your steak and toss it with the cornstarch. Shake off excess.

Begin cooking your rice

Heat up a little canola oil in a skillet/wok to medium-high heat. Add ginger and garlic. Immediately add in soy sauce, water, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes until sugar dissolves. Remove liquid to a bowl. Add a little more oil to the pan and add in the beef. This should cook fairly quickly since it is thinly sliced. When beef is almost cooked through, add the sauce back into the pan. At this point you can let the sauce thicken (about 4 minutes) or serve as is. I let the sauce thicken a bit and it was really good that way. We served it over rice and had broccoli on the side. Next time I think I will actually add the broccoli in with the beef/sauce. The recipe also called for scallions but R doesn't care for those so I left them out. Enjoy!

Recipe found here.

Last week I spoke about  being peri-menopausal on the blog. I had to have loads of blood work done and a bone density test. I saw Dr. K on Tuesday to get my results. Everything they tested for came back normal! This means that there are no "reasons" for my early journey to menopause, just genetics & that it is just my time. I am relieved that I'm not carrying any markers for Fragile X, especially what that means for my daughters. So, now we're at a let's try this approach and see how it works for you. Right now we're trying the NuvaRing which is a contraceptive device with the lowest amount of estrogen. I've been using it for about a month now and my hot flashes have all but disappeared! My headaches have been less frequent as well, which I can't complain about that.

I will have to have a bone scan done about every 5 years, which is no big deal and just continue with my annual appointments to the GYN unless my hormone therapy stops working for any reason.

Good news is great!

The girls rushed out in the morning to check on the Leprechaun trap we had set up the night before St. Patrick's Day. This is what they found:

The Leprechaun got away, but he left behind 2 green 1 dollar bills for the girls who tried to catch him. As I went to get the bagels and cream cheese ready for breakfast this is what I found:

The sneaky Leprechaun!

The girls really enjoyed their green bagels. Yum!

I have such good intentions of blogging every day. Then the day is gone and then 2 days, and so on. I'm behind in lots of projects right now, though it matters to no one but me. 

One thing I am not behind on is St. Patrick's Day! In the last issue of Family Fun magazine they had a cute story about how the leprechauns will come to your house to try to steal your gold and if you set a trap you might catch one! In the process, they leave green items behind. They are tricky little creatures, though, and may not be caught by the trap. Georgia ate up the story and couldn't wait to get started building her leprechaun trap. With a little help from daddy to make it work, we have it set up on our kitchen table. The leprechaun is going to turn the bagels I bought for breakfast green (luckily I was able to purchase green bagels from a local restaurant) and the little leprechauns also managed to turn the cream cheese green, too! I wonder if we will catch him? I will definitely have to post tomorrow with pictures of the trap & green items!

So, on to the recap of the last week for my Project 365:

3/9  Monday:

I took the girls to the new library that recently opened near us. They have an awesome children's section and lots of fun activities planned. On this Monday, we went to Crafternoon - an arts & crafts class where they made some St. Patrick's day themed items. Before class we had to check out some books, of course.

3/10 Tuesday:

R and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary today. I blogged about that already, so I will just leave it at that. I am going to use a photo from our wedding day for the Project 365 album. Also on this day, Irelyn hosted her very first play date at our home. We've had other friends over, but this one was just for her! She was super excited about it.

3/11 Wednesday:

Another play date - this time with a friend of Georgia's from school and his sister who is Irelyn's age. So much fun and of course we had to take some silly pictures before they left!

3/12 Thursday:

I had a nagging headache all day today and really didn't have the opportunity to take a memorable photo. This week has also been Teacher Appreciation week at the preschool and I have been at the preschool every day this week helping out. I also worked this evening, as usual, but didn't leave work until 10pm. Had to get all of the gift cards for the teachers ready for the luncheon on Friday when I got home from work, so I took a picture of that.

3/13 Friday:

Finally Friday! Georgia's last soccer practice of the season:

Of course, now she wants to play in the Spring League but we are too late to sign up. Originally when it was sign-up time, Georgia wasn't sure if she wanted to continue playing. Now she does. We'll just have to wait until the fall and keep practicing with her through the summer.

3/14 Saturday:

Woke up to this:

Georgia and Irelyn had set up this sweet tea party. Notice the "fancy" writing on the chalk board. So sweet!

After our tea party breakfast, we headed to the last soccer game. Georgia scored 2 goals!! I actually had tears in my eyes because I was so proud and happy for her. She scored the very first goal in the first game and hasn't scored since. She was super proud of herself! After the game, we headed over to a local park with the rest of the team to have a pizza party and cake. They all received trophies, too.

3/15 Sunday:

I headed down to the outlet mall in Ellenton for some much needed shopping.

Finally, 3/16 Monday:

Just a quick photo of the girls playing Legos with R after dinner tonight.

8 years ago this was us. Love you too, babe!

R just headed out to pick up the take out from Carrabba's. The kids are in the bath. We'll get them to bed soon and enjoy a quiet dinner at home. In a few weeks we're going to take a trip to some of the Disney parks to celebrate in style, sans kids! Can't wait!

I've been having some "female" issues for the past 1.5-2 years. Irregular periods, severe mood swings, hot flashes ALL DAY LONG. I'm 36. I went to my GYN a little over a year ago to talk about it and they did some blood work and nothing came back abnormal and since my symptoms weren't consistent there wasn't a whole lot to do other than wait and see. Wait and see if my body regulated itself; wait and see if it got worse; wait and see. Give it some time.

So I did. I waited almost a year. The same things were happening. Not any more consistently, really. I would be regular for a few months. Then skip a month entirely. Some months I would even get to have 2 periods which was SO MUCH FUN. I was due for my annual GYN appointment so I scheduled it for late January. I chatted with my Doctor about what had been happening for the past year and she wanted to do more tests to see if anything had changed.

About a week later, I got the results. My FSH level was high indicating ovarian failure. In turn, could mean early menopause or that I'm Peri-Menopausal. Not sure, what my ovaries are up to, so we scheduled an ultrasound. At the ultrasound appointment, another GYN took my history and got to work. She's looking at all my girly bits on the screen and says "that ovary is dead. nothing happening in there. shriveled up not producing any eggs". Then on to the other ovary. It's not much bigger, maybe a few eggs left, but it doesn't really know what to do any more. The uterine lining is very thin, indicating that my body isn't producing much estrogen. All signs point to Peri-Menopause.

At this point, I'm just taking it all in. We are done having kids. I have two beautiful girls. But the knowledge that I can't have any more children gave me quite a big pang. I know it's just a reaction to the news. I know my limits and my limit is two. Then I started thinking all the what if's. What if I hadn't met R when I did? What if we had waited to have kids? I know we were very lucky to have been able to conceive quickly and have problem-free pregnancies and deliveries. I know.

It is hard to hear that your woman-ness is failing. Some of my friends say I should be doing a happy dance! That, hey, by the time I'm 40 I won't have a period anymore and I can just be FREE! I guess that is true, but I haven't wrapped my head around it yet.

On to the next phase: meeting with the Infertility Specialist. I wasn't quite sure why I was seeing this particular Doctor since I'm not trying to get pregnant. According to my GYN, he is an expert when it comes to hormones and menopause and all of those types of things. I met with Dr. K about a week and a half ago. We spoke for about 45 minutes. He said that only 1% of women go through menopause at the age of 36. He told me about some other tests he wanted to run. Fragile X to see if I'm a carrier. This can lead to learning disabilities and Autism in males. If I am a carrier, my girls will need to be tested before they try to have children. It can also cause some soft-neurological problems in females which I need to remember to ask him about my vertigo. Another test is to look for an auto-immune deficiency that may be attacking my ovaries. This is supposedly rare and not likely, but if it's there it would explain why I'm headed down menopause lane. There are a few others, but I can't remember them now. I go tomorrow to have the blood work done.

The other test I had to do was a Bone Density test, which I did last week. Dr. K wanted to get a baseline on my bone mass. He said your bone mass peaks at around age 35-36 and once you go through menopause, it can decrease somewhat rapidly. I will have to have these tests repeated every few years so we can keep an eye on how my body accepts the changes that are coming.

That is all I know for now. I will meet with Dr. K in a week to go over all my results and come up with a plan. I just want to be able to make it through the process as painlessly as possible.

Life is moving too fast. This week started with Irelyn complaining that her ears hurt which resulted in a visit to the Pediatrician on Wednesday which resulted in her having a double ear infection AND pink eye. Fun! Eye drops for a week and antibiotics for 10 days are the name of the game. Luckily she handles the eye drops like a champ, so that has made the process so much better.

R also started feeling sick on Wednesday, though he was fine by Friday. I hate him. He gets sick and it is usually over in 2-3 days. I get sick and it lasts for 2-3 weeks. Not fair. But I'm glad he is feeling better.

The Daisy Scouts hosted their second (and final) cookie booth on Saturday. We actually SOLD OUT of cookies! I am so ready to had in the money and be done with this process. Our troop proceeds were $612. Not bad for our first year, though we have nothing to compare it to. I'm very proud of all the girls.

Let's get on to the photos from the week:

3/2 Monday:

Irelyn had to decorate a  butterfly for preschool "homework". On the back she wrote her name - all by herself! I'm so proud and excited about this. She really just has no interest in the alphabet and it has been a struggle getting her to learn the letters. She does know the letters in her name and I think she did a great job writing it out.

3/3 Tuesday:

We headed to Plant City for the Florida Strawberry Festival. This is a tradition for me since I grew up in Plant City. No year is complete without a trip to the Festival. This was also Irelyn's first trip. We could not have picked a better day to go. There were no lines and we were able to buy armbands so the kids got to ride the rides as many times as they wanted. We were there about 4 hours and dropped $100, but the kids (and us, too) had the best time ever!

3/4 Wednesday:

I began the day with a Bone Density scan at Tampa General Hospital. I must tell you that this was the easiest test I have ever done. You just lay on a table and the machine hovers over you and scans your body for about 5 minutes and that's it! Awesome.

Then I had to get back to Brandon for an early release day (out at noon) for Georgia. This afternoon we took Irleyn to the Pediatrician where she was diagnosed with a double ear infection and pink eye. Luckily the Doctor faxed over the prescriptions and by the time we got across town to the pharmacy, they were ready!

Speaking of Georgia. We find little slips of paper with stories on them all over the house. She has a wonderful imagination and loves drawing and writing stories. She's just in Kindergarten but is doing really well with her writing skills. So proud of this girl! Here is her latest story that she created after reading Snow White.

3/5 Thursday:

Because Irelyn has pink eye, she has to stay home from school today (have to be on antibiotic eye drops for 24 hours before returning to school). She was in a good mood and wanted to play games on Noggin. This is probably her first real time playing computer games and she did really well. At one point I walked in to check on her and she had somehow clicked on Google and was just typing away! Too funny. A Google search for "ahtountiouhgoedmnkdkjjkdjdjd" or something like that!

3/6 Friday:

Happy Birthday to my Sister-In-Law Wendy! She invited the family over to have dinner and carrot cake. Yum! The kids had fun playing together and we had a good time visiting with the family.

3/7 Saturday:

What a busy day! 8am soccer game (that I had to miss because I woke up with such a stiff/sore neck. I was in a lot of pain and really disappointed that I had to miss the game). However, the other team were like little soccer nazis according to R. The score was 7-0 at the first water break and at one point the Referee let us play 4 vs. 3 because they were killing us. Final score 18-1. Thank God they don't really keep score!

Then Georgia had to get cleaned up and ready for her very fancy Tea Party Birthday Party that she was invited to. One of her BFF's from school had her birthday at a local Tea Room. They got to decorate hats, wear gloves and pearls, eat sugar cubes and listen to Princess music. How fun!

During the Birthday Party we also had our last Daisy Scout cookie booth. We sold out of cookies! Yay!

3/8 Sunday:

Georgia wanted to give the air rifle a try so R took her out in the back yard to shoot a couple of pellets. She did great and actually hit the target. Unfortunately, I must have ticked off some ants while taking the photos and was bitten 3 times on my foot! At least I got the pic..............

Between Girl Scout cookie stuff, Irelyn being sick for the first 4 days of the week and missing school, PTA meetings, doctor appointments, working on my LOAD project, R working late every day, and volunteering in Georgia's classroom I have fallen behind on the blog. Again.

Here is a recap of the week:

Monday 2/23:

Irelyn taking her cold medicine. On Sunday she was running a low grade fever and Monday morning she woke up with a higher fever and a stuffy/runny nose. No school today. We also had to deliver Girl Scout cookies to some friends in Plant City. R had to work late tonight and didn't get home until close to 8pm. Long day.

Tuesday 2/24:

Our newest family member! R and I have decided to get serious about getting healthy and decided to purchase a treadmill. So far, so good! Irelyn was still sick today, so we just spent our day at home.

Wednesday 2/25:

Had a PTA meeting this morning. Irelyn had to join me since she was still running a low grade fever so she couldn't be at school today. After the meeting we headed to Starbucks for a treat - Iced Caramel Macchiato and Vanilla Bean scones. Yum!

Thursday 2/26:

Georgia got to be "friend of the week" in her classroom this week. She had to fill up a bag of her favorite toys, favorite book, a list of her favorite things to eat, her favorite color, etc... and bring in her favorite snack at the end of the week. Today, I went to the classroom to read her favorite book to the class. She chose a book about a surprise birthday party and how the best gift of all is friendship. It's so funny when I go to her class. All the kids want to tell me SOMETHING - it doesn't matter what it is, but they are all dying to tell Mrs. Allen! After I read the story, I helped out during Center Time and played a game with a group of 5 kids.

After school we went to pick up Irelyn from her school (yes! she was able to go to school today!) and then to run a few errands to Petco, Michael's and Target before going to work this evening.

Friday 2/27:

Georgia reading to me on my bed. She goes to the library on Thursdays at school and this week she chose the book Amelia Bedelia. I remember loving these stories from my childhood and now I can share them with Georgia. She was cracking up at all of the silly antics Amelia does in the book. She was able to read the entire book with no mistakes. Awesome!

Saturday 2/28:

What a busy day! We started off the day with a 9am soccer game. Aunt Wendy, Uncle Mark, Keelan and Grandma & Papa Winchester came to the game. Later in the day our Daisy Troop was working their first Girl Scout Cookie Booth at a Publix Supermarket. We were there from 1-4pm and sold over 100 boxes of cookies. The girls were so proud!

As we were packing up a man walked over to the booth with his wallet out. He said "wait, wait, don't go yet" I said "hi, what would you like?" He said "oh, I don't want any cookies I just want to give you this (holds out a bill) because my daughter was in Girl Scouts" I looked down at the bill he was giving me and it was a $50! OMG! We couldn't thank him enough. What a generous man.

Today also marked the last day of my LOAD project. I was able to keep up and complete 28 layouts in 28 days! Here is what my efforts look like:

These are the 12 x 12 layouts that I did. I also did about five 6 x 6 and one 8.5 x 11. What a great feeling! I am going to try to keep up with the group that branched off to do a LOAW(layout a week) and there is talk of doing another LOAD later in the year. Feels great to have my creativity flowing again!